To be honest, Fred wasn't at all surprised when Penelope didn't show up the next day. In fact, he would be surprised if she ever showed at all. He wasn't too bothered; people appeared and disappeared in his life on a regular basis.
Still, she had been rather cute.
Which is why a grin appeared on his face when she walked into his shop on a cold but sunny Thursday. People instantly turned to stare at her bizarre attire (today she was wearing a purple dress with green tights, rainbow knee-socks and black boots). She looked around, pretending not to notice the whispers about her outfit when Fred came out of nowhere and startled her. She yelped and nearly fell over from the shock.
"Why do you wear such loud clothing if you don't actually like the attention?" He asked, staring at her outfit.
Penelope shrugged, messing up her hair a bit more. "I don't do it for the attention, I do it 'cause I like the way it looks." She defended.
"So why'd you decide to pop in?"
"You asked me to."
"3 days ago, how do you know that I still- take that and you'll be greeted with a less than desirable surprise when you get home." He snapped at a girl nearby who had stuffed a daydream charm into her purse. She sheepishly put it back and scurried out of the store.
"What do you sell, anyways? Did you make all of this?" She glanced at the shelves lining the shop.
"My brother and I, we did."
"Whoa, you must be fantastic at magic! I'm not too fabulous with it. My parents decided that they could teach me everything at home." She rolled her eyes.
"Well… I don't like to brag, but we are pretty superior when it comes to magic and charms." He polished his knuckles and grinned. "So. Would you like the grand tour?"
Penny bit her lip and nodded eagerly. "Yes please!"
"No need for manners here, miss! Let your silliness flow!" He flourished his arms.
Penelope giggled in spit of herself as Fred lead her around the shop, naming things and explaining their uses or a silly story on how they were tested or invented along the way. When he was finished, he looked expectantly at Penelope.
"That's- This is- Wow!" She exclaimed, causing a few people to look at her. Fred grinned from ear-to-ear.
"Well, Penelope. What are you doing for the rest of the day, anyways?" He asked. Penelope bit her lip.
"Well… this is going to sound really dumb to you. I'm… Well I was planning on just walking around a few parks and taking some photos. I rarely get days off, but even then I like to find new things to take pictures of. It's really interesting actually, I me- I'm rambling again. Sorry." She squeezed her eyes shut. "Why do you ask?"
"Well… I was just wondering if you'd maybe like some company?" Fred asked unabashedly. This girl was interesting to him- a new species.
"Wha-? Don't you have the store? Or… Well. I mean." She stuttered.
"You know, I do have an assistant." He chuckled. "But, if you don't want me to come, I'm perfectly comfortable staying here."
"No! I never said I didn't want you to come. Er, I never said I did want you to come, either. Um. I guess… you could come if you liked. But it'll be really boring for you. I like to photograph rubbish like flowers or park benches or-"
"I'll go get my coat." Fred interrupted her, still grinning.
-
"So. This is what you do, then?" Fred cocked his head to one side as Penelope took a few shots of the bark of a tree. He really couldn't see the appeal in the bark, it was old and had moss growing on it, but she was the photographer.
"Mhm." Penelope answered, biting her lip and stepping away from the tree. "Well, I also work at the Daily Prophet as a photographer."
"Sounds interesting enough. I mean, it's not as amazing as my job, but nothing else really is." He teased. Penelope rolled her eyes and plopped herself down on the grass.
They had been at the park for nearly 2 hours now and the sun was starting to set. A cool night breeze was starting and Penelope shivered, pulling her fluorescent green pea coat tighter around herself. Fred sat himself next to her and looked at the camera in her hands.
"Have you ever let anyone take pictures of you?" He questioned. Penelope shook her head quickly.
"Oh goodness no! I hate being photographed. I'm much better behind the lens than in front of it."
"… Can I take a picture of you?" He raised an eyebrow at her and went to reach for the camera.
Penelope pulled it away abruptly, shaking her head. "No! I hate it when people take my picture, and this camera is really expensive. I don't trust you with it! I wouldn't even trust my own child with it!"
"… You have a kid?"
"It's a figure of speech." She said in an annoyed fashion. He could be so annoyingly cheery sometimes.
Fred pouted jokingly and went to grab for the camera again. "Oh c'mon Penny! Pleaaaseee?" He aha'ed when she was too slow and he grabbed the camera, jumping up with it.
"FRED!" Penelope shrieked. "BE CAREFUL THAT CAMERA IS RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE AND IT BELONGS TO MY WORK!"
Fred laughed and began snapping pictures of the angry girl, and he got a decent amount of shots until she finally succeeded in yanking the camera out of his hands, glaring.
"That was not funny. You could've… well… just… ugh." She rubbed her temples and sat back down on the cold grass again, deciding she was going to ignore him from now on. Fred was still chuckling and he sat down next to her, staring in front of him and not bothering to talk to the girl at all.
Penelope felt slightly bad for losing her temper over something so silly. She cleared her throat and looked over at him.
"Er… I'm sorry for yelling at you." She managed to squeak out. Fred looked at her with an amused expression and let out a laugh.
"Penelope, it's fine. I'm not bothered." He patted her head and she screwed up her face into a pout.
They sat in silence for a while until Penelope let out a rather violent shiver from the cold. Fred glanced over at her and pulled off his coat silently, draping it over her shoulders.
"Look, Fred. That is definitely the cutest thing anyone's ever done for me, but aren't you going to freeze your butt off? I mean," She turned and faced him so she could feel his hands, "look at your hands! They feel like icicles! And your cheeks-" She moved her hands up, "they're freezing! You could catch a cold or something, couldn't you?" She took the jacket off and put it back over his shoulders.
Until then, Fred hadn't been able to get a word in and hadn't really wanted to. He was too preoccupied with looking down at Penelope's hand- seeing it, but not feeling it.
"Fred? You're actually really cold now… I think maybe you should go home. Your lips are turning blue." Penelope's worried voice met his ears and he snapped out of his trance, standing up abruptly.
Penelope stood up as well with her camera in her hand. Fred looked down at her and grinned, even though his body was shivering and going into panic mode.
"Thanks for the day, I'll just-uh, apparate home." Fred said, amazed by how loudly his teeth were chattering. That was the problem with having no body sensations; you could burn yourself or catch hypothermia and not even notice it.
Penelope chewed on her lip and nodded curtly. "Er, thanks for coming. It was… nice." She felt incredibly awkward so she stepped back from him and began walking in the other direction.
Fred sighed and disappeared with a 'crack'.
-
After that, they'd gone out every Thursday, doing something fun or something that Penelope had heard about through a friend, just anything. A few weeks after the first time they'd gone out, Fred and Penelope were rifling through a book bin in a small, dusty bookstore. It had been Penelope's idea, Fred wasn't really much of a reader, but he'd decided maybe it could be fun.
He was terribly wrong.
He spent most of the afternoon watching Penelope's legs wave about in the air as she dove head first into each bin. She'd even fallen into one at some point, which had made the trip very worthwhile for Fred as he'd doubled over in laughter.
When he'd finally helped her out, she punched him on the arm and stalked off to another corner in the bookstore. Fred finally found her hidden amongst a giant stack of romance novels- the cheesy ones you could find in checkout lines at the supermarket. She was browsing through them with wide eyes.
"You have got to be joking." Fred picked up a book and looked at it. Penelope jumped and stuck her hand on her hip.
"What? I like these books… They're a really wonderful escape and they're so romantic…"
Fred mimed barfing and tossed the book he was holding into one of the musty piles in the corner.
"Well, do you have a boyfriend then?" He batted his eyes jokingly. "Is he as fond of these books as you are? Do you act out the scenes?"
Penelope huffed. "I do have a boyfriend. And no, we don't act them out. That's stupid."
Fred found he was a bit upset at this new bit of information, but decided to think nothing of it.
"Ooooh! Penny's in luuurve. What's his name, hmmmm?" He propped his chin on her shoulder from behind. Penelope giggled and pushed his head away.
"His name is Felix, he works with me. He's the head of the department of photography, actually." She blushed crimson and bit her lip.
"The head of the department? Wow, Penelope, you're such a scarlet woman." He quipped playfully.
"A what?"
"A scarlet woman! Oh come on. You have no idea what that is?"
"Should I know?" Penelope leaned on the bookshelf behind her and cocked her head to one side.
"Yes! It's-" Unfortunately he never quite finished his sentence as the bookcase Penelope had been leaning on was slowly tipping backwards.
"Penny! PENNY!" Fred reached to grab her away from the falling bookshelf but it was no use. Penelope tumbled backwards into a big pile of books and a giant cloud of dust.
"Penny? Are… you okay?" Fred searched curiously amongst the books once the dust had settled. A tiny sneeze sounded at his left and he looked over to see a bright orange trainer peep through a hole in the pile.
Instead of rushing over to help her, Fred's sense of humour got the best of him and by the time Penelope had pulled herself out, he was practically crying on the floor with laughter.
"You think it's funny? Well this is even funnier." She stalked off, leaving Fred weak with laughter by the bookcase. When she got to the door she turned back and grinned.
"Have fun with the bookstore owner!" And she disappeared out the door.
"N-No! Wait up!" Fred tripped over his own feet and nearly went face first into the ground as he rushed out of the store.
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